Ripped

We all hate the guy for his theatrics, but Rip Hamilton (25 pts, 9 assists, 6 reb) killed the Celtics today. Coupled with the fact that Ray Allen (10 pts, 2-1o FG) was a no-show and you get a 105-95 Pistons victory at the Garden.

The Celtics play was too streaky. They had strong runs to start the 3rd and 4th quarters but both times allowed Detroit to retake control of the game.

The Pistons shot too many free throws (34-40). And this had nothing to do with poor officiating.

23 Responses

Ray needs to start stepping up against the likes of the Pistons and Cavs he plays horrible against those teams

papa irish - March 1, 2009 at 3:56 pm

– Pistons outplayed us.
– Refs were terrible, again. A lot of bad and missed foul calls (especially by Bynum early), and that turnover at 2 minutes was a kicked ball by Prince. Which they missed, of course. But they did not lose this game for us.
– Three people mostly caused this loss: Doc, Ray, and KG.
– Doc again, as always, failed to have the team adjust their game to the refs. Every drive to the basket that included ANY contact was being whistled. And yet, everyone except Paul kept taking the outside shot until very late in the game.Why? Why can’t Doc GET it, finally… that you must ADJUST YOUR GAME TO THE REFS, when they’re obviously calling the game a certain way.
– Ray had a bad game. It happens.
– The other team member at fault is KG. For sitting out so long with his phantom “injury”. I never believed the BS of the mysterious “strain” that happened after his jump and before his landing (about 5/100 of a second). Same kind of thing happened last year, at around the same time… a mysterious “abdominal strain” which also had no discernible cause. Something’s not right with this KG story…
– Ugh.

DRJ - March 1, 2009 at 4:03 pm

DRJ….you are on crack if you think KG is bullshitting this injury. that is all – Jay

I know, I know. I knew for sure I would catch hell for saying it. But it’s still what I believe… after he doesn’t even show up to the home game.

DRJ - March 1, 2009 at 4:17 pm

Gotta say DRJ… I disagree with a lot of what you said.

I think you’re way off on the KG thing. Even if there was a “phantom” injury… they’d pull that stunt in practice without the cameras. They’d say “ooops, KG strained his back in practice and he’ll miss a couple of weeks.”

The mechanics of the knee are so intricate that the slightest thing could cause a problem. You can plant for a jump like you’ve always planted for a jump and something can go. It happens all the time.

The only criticism of Doc that I have is the one Chuck expressed. Why play Paul so much? I’ve said it a number of times… I don’t care if we lose this game if it’s because you limited Pierce’s minutes and gave other guys some time.

But the criticism of Doc has been a constant from day 1… and it’s always the same. When players do something wrong… or don’t do something at all… it’s his fault. When they do something right… they’re great players. The coach accepts that responsibility… but it’s not always the case. Give some credit to the Pistons for shutting off the path to the basket… give some criticism to the guys who didn’t drive to the hoop.

I remember a few years ago, Doc kept getting ripped because all of the out of bounds plays looked like shit. We heard a million times “THAT’S what he came up with!?!?” Then all of a sudden he gets players who can execute what he draws up, and the Celtics are regarded as one of the best teams with the ball out of bounds.

So bang on Doc for playing Paul too much (even though Paul was the only effective option on offense)… but there’s no way in hell Doc said to his team “Ok… everyone except Paul… you just spot up and shoot.” That’s just not true at all.

Ok, reds…(sigh) you’re probably right. I’m just not convinced that Doc recognizes AND ADJUSTS when the refs are going a certain way… like calling every little touch on drives and not calling any charges.

DRJ - March 1, 2009 at 4:23 pm

Old School Defensive Pistons showed up today – I don’t want to put the blame all on Iverson but its getting obvious he is a team ball killer. (Shown in Denver and now Detroit) A.I. is hell of a talent but his team ball IQ is quite low in my opinion.

Pistons played a perfect game today and their superb D’ affected us big time.

On Marbury: He has lots to learn on Defensive end. 0 pt, 4 fouls, 2 or 3 turnovers ain’t going to cut it. Will Bynum picked his pocket twice and he had no chance guarding Hamilton and Argentina dude.

Don’t panic guys Doc’ is still trying to figure out how the new guys can fit in with our current players and once KG comes back we will be strong.

Props to Big Baby he is looking really confident with his 17 foot jumper and helping with Offensive rebounding. Keep it up Glen!

Fsantos33 - March 1, 2009 at 4:25 pm

I’ve come to the conclusion that we just suck on Sunday matinee games, so I’m petitioning to the league that we no longer play them!

Also, Ray Ray needs to take the ball to the basket more, ESPECIALLY when the outside jumper is not falling (like today). Put some pressure on their defense equal to the amount every team seems to put on ours.

Coobs - March 1, 2009 at 4:26 pm

DRJ – Just curious man. How can you enjoy watching all the games when you are worrying about what the refs are calling every second. Relax man, try to tune out the refs. Try to enjoy the ride while we still got it.

Fsantos33 - March 1, 2009 at 4:29 pm

Coobs I think Ray ran out of gas – He had to chase Freddy Fingers Hamilton all game long.

Fsantos33 - March 1, 2009 at 4:30 pm

Fsant… definitely NOT blaming the refs for this loss. Just tired of seeing these ancient blind guys making bad split second “decisions”… guesses would be more accurate :)

DRJ - March 1, 2009 at 4:40 pm

I had the luck (and not so good luck) of being at the game in some pretty decent seats. My observations: 1)Pistons took advantage of Starbury’s rustiness immediately-full-court pressure caused him to turnover ball a couple times. 2)Could be new personnel getting used to defensive schemes, but it also seemed like guys were late rotating over on Pistons’ outside shooters. 3)Refs were not letting them play. They seemed too paranoid that maybe the game would be too “chippy” or something..?!? I’m not 100% sure of this, but DRJ, I believe it’s by choice (coach/management/KG himself..?) that KG is not in the building. I vaguely remember a similar situation last year when Doc said that he’s just too intense to be around when he can’t play. That guy brings so much to the game it’s unreal. When you walk in that arena and he’s not around, everything is brought down about 100 decibels. You can say I’m crazy, but believe me, I’ve been to a fair amount of games since KG’s been in Green-there’s just a certain buzz/aura/energy that’s missing. Best way I can describe it is HD tv. The Garden+KG=High Def. The Garden-KG=regular cable.

Well, No suprises here really…No KG, trying to work in Marbury and Moore and rondo and ray had a poor game and the pistons were trying to avoid the season sweep (Lakers couldnt complete the season sweep on the suns the game after either – its hard to do)

Im not worried that it was at home, because we beat the pistons in detroit easily, have 5 times in the last 2 seasons, so if we meet in the playoffs Id expect a 5 game series

The team misses KGs presense as much as they miss his play

baron - March 1, 2009 at 6:18 pm

Folks, please forgive me for posting this long tirade here. I tried to post it in another forum, but they actually DELETED IT! Amazing. Can’t touch the holy KG, I guess. But something is rotten in the state of Massachusetts, and though I am not sure what it is, and though I was pretty mad when I wrote this, here’s a shot at it:
—-

I know I’m going to catch hellish flak for this one… don’t care. KG is a wimp.

– Two years in a row, he takes 2-3 weeks off in January/February, for phantom “injuries” caused by nothing anybody can see. I don’t believe he had “abdominal strain” last year, and I don’t believe he has “leg muscle strain” this year. Danny and Doc are LYING to us.
– Reason I know it’s a lie this year: KG ran up the floor normally, jumped normally, then landed on one leg, supposedly unable to put weight on his “injured” leg. There was no contact or any unusual motion on the jump. So how, in that split second, did his leg get “strained”? I don’t believe it did, and if there was some strain, it was minor… that’s how.
– When asked why KG doesn’t even show up to games now, the answer today was: “Oh, it would be hard for him. He would want to play too much.” Poor sensitive Kevin gonna go cryin’ to momma if he doesn’t get to play with the other boys… is that what we’re supposed to believe?
– I don’t know if he managed to get this extra time off written into his contract, or if he just can’t stand the heat, or what. But KG is acting like a delicate little flower who just cannot play 82 games in a season anymore… just too hard for our poor fragile little baby, I guess. Paul plays with dislocated fingers. Ray plays practically 48 minutes in every game (as did Paul today). Hell, Ben Wallace played a whole quarter with a broken leg! Everybody else plays till they get knocked out (literally, on this team). Not KG.
– I am sick of this. I’ll tell you why he doesn’t show up for games… because we’d SEE that he’s not injured at all. That, or he’s off doing whatever it is he feels like doing with his convenient time off.
– In my book, KG is now LAST on the list of high-character players on this team, until proven otherwise. I don’t believe him anymore. I don’t believe Doc either, and certainly not Danny. We know Danny lies to us… heck, he’s still calling Scal’s injury a “neck strain” with “concussion-like symptoms”… LOL… I figured Danny for an exec who lies when necessary, but not for a stupid liar. That Scal story is completely stupid.
– But I digress. Main thing is… KG is a wimp for taking this vacation and letting his teammates carry his load for him. Shame on you, KG.
—-

I wonder if this will stay up or not…..

DRJ - March 1, 2009 at 7:05 pm

DRJ- that barely makes sense, before last season KG barely missed a single game in a season for a decade and went through half a season on one leg in his last years in minnesotta…the celtics could be lieing and wanting to get him rest, I highly doubt it, but if so thats on them..

Now, not being able to be around the team when hes injured is suspect, and Its been that way most of his career, they miss his presense on the bench and they need him around especially with the new guys

Baron - March 1, 2009 at 8:03 pm

well DRJ, whether or not you believe he was injured last year, certainly you cant argue with the end result.
Look on the bright side, KG will be back soon, and as the new guys adjust to the C’s defensive schemes, we should be back in business in time for the playoffs.
As for today’s game the only plus i could see was Big Baby, hopefully he keeps that up and gives us another solid scoring option.

celts9 - March 1, 2009 at 8:15 pm

Baron– it doesn’t make sense to me either. The pieces don’t fit. They didn’t before, but his not showing up was too weird for me. And their explanation sounded like a huge LOAD of bullshit. So I don’t know….

But if there is any truth to this theory and it ever comes out, there will be hell to pay.

DRJ - March 1, 2009 at 8:16 pm

I heard that KG pushed the trigger on the controlled explosions that destroyed the Twin Towers after the networks doctored the TV footage that showed two passenger planes hitting the buildings while in fact they were actually empty military drones.

If there is any truth to this theory and it ever comes out, there will be hell to pay.

Two-Buck Chuck - March 1, 2009 at 8:47 pm

i found this blogspot selling Celtics voodoo dolls. I did a bit of investigation and it turns out this person has sold like 10,000 already. i just bought 5 to stop them from ending up in enemy hands.http://stickittotheceltics.blogspot.com/